Male drivers crash more because they are still cavemen, psychologist claims

Last updated at 08:45 21 April 2008

Male drivers have more crashes because deep down they are still cavemen, a psychologist claims.

The brain has failed to evolve from the time of aggressive hunter-gatherers who thought only of finding food and mating, says Professor Geoffrey Beattie.

This "Fred Flintstone" impulse explains why men commit the vast majority of traffic offences including speeding, dangerous driving and drink-driving and account for 94 per cent of prosecutions resulting from road casualties.

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Professor Beattie, who is Manchester University's Head of Psychological Sciences and resident psychologist on TV's Big Brother, examined the effect of evolution on differences in driving behaviour between men and women.

He concludes that young men in particular still exhibit the risk-taking instincts of cavemen when driving in modern-day Britain.

"Our 21st Century skulls contain essentially stone-age brains," he says in a report to be considered on Wednesday by the House of Commons Transport Committee.

"The human brain evolved to meet the requirements of the huntergatherer that existed for 99 per cent of our evolution as a species.

"This has a very significant impact on driving by encouraging more competitive-and hostile behaviour with consequent higher probabilities of having an accident."

The professor's report, "Sex Differences in Driving and Insurance Risk", was commissioned by the insurance firm esure for submission to an inquiry into what should be done to reduce road deaths beyond 2010 - the Government's deadline for cutting casualties by 50 per cent.

It says men are more competitive and likely to react aggressively on instinct to perceived invasions of their personal space by other drivers - particularly when tailgated or cut up when overtaken.

Women, on the other hand, are better able to empathise and see others' point of view so they are less likely to respond to hostility.

Home Office figures reveal that men were responsible for 97 per cent of dangerous driving convictions in 2005, 88 per cent of drink-drive violations, 87 per cent of accident offences and 82 per cent of speeding cases.

Teenage male drivers are five times more likely to crash than those aged 30 or over and the fatal accident rate of men in their twenties is 535 per cent higher than women of the same age.

Professor Beattie concludes that male drivers should be trained to keep their aggression in check.